


Of Betting Pools and Moonlight

by NotQuiteHumanAnymore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M, Marauders era, actually the full fic kinda rotates a bit around got, but it's not really peter-centric so, game of thrones mentions, it's not even marauder-centric, it's remus and sirius centric with a dash of lils and a quick entrance by James, mod au for the marauders, or at least knowing that got exists, peter isn't in it as much as i would have liked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 04:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1538027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotQuiteHumanAnymore/pseuds/NotQuiteHumanAnymore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a bonding mechanism James makes Lily and Sirius spend time together. Lily suggests Game of Thrones, and Sirius gets an idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I still don't really know why I wrote this. Anyway, here's part one.

Sirius plopped down next to Lily with a bag of popcorn in his hand. He wasn't entirely sure whose idea this was, but here he was, in Evans' house over the winter break, trying to forge a bond between them.

He was 99.999 percent sure that this had been James' idea. Or at least part of it had been. He wasn't sure who'd suggested the show.

“Right, so this show is really intense, and you have to think pretty hard in order to get all of the characters names to their faces, so tell me at any time that it becomes too difficult for you to follow.” Lily drawled.

The show had been Lily's idea. It was all coming back to him now. James had been complaining that 'he and Lily didn't get along well enough, and that she was joining the marauders family unit so they had to get along, Sirius, please she's really important to me!' or something, and then Lily had spoken up, saying that there was this tv show and that it was really good, and he'd probably like it or something and Sirius wasn't sure what had happened next, but he also remembered Peter speaking up at one point or another, telling him that Lily wasn’t a bad person, and anyway, she and Remus had been friends since third year, and Remus’ judgement of character was flawless. Most of the time. He remembered growling, but had somehow ended up agreeing to come to Lily’s parents house for the final weekend of their winter break. And then, he was suddenly at Lily's, watching Game of Thrones on DVD.

Sirius payed half attention to the show, allowing his mind to wander a bit. He really wasn't surprised when it ended up focusing on Remus and how he'd laughed when Sirius had told him of the latest turn of events concerning Lily Evans.

It had been glorious. His face had lit up and he'd bent double laughing at the thought of Sirius Black spending time with Lily, of all people. Mainly because Sirius and Lily were so beyond different that they really hadn't spent time together so far. At least, not without Lily docking points from Gryffindor or Sirius playing a really elaborate prank that she almost never seem to pin on him.

“Good luck with that, mate.” Remus had gasped, and Sirius had run away because a) Remus Lupin was obviously the most beautiful person on campus, especially when laughing, and b) he needed support in his endeavor to get out of this situation, and he was not getting it from his--

“Ow!” Sirius yelped.

“You're being an idiot.” Lily said with half of a smile, as Sirius rubbed the arm she'd assaulted with the television remote.

“What are you talking about?”

“We just passed the first sex scene and you didn't crack a single joke. Ergo, you're somewhere else, conclusion: you're thinking about whoever it is you're in love with.” Sirius remained silent. He couldn’t deny it, but he wouldn’t prove it either. “Oh, come on! You're so obvious! Don't tell me you don't know you're madly in love with... whoever it is.” (She had a guess, but Lily Evans never said what she knew until she had proof. Or at least enough circumstantial evidence to present to both parties to get a full confession. She’d won over Peter first year because she’d proved to Professor McGonagall that he hadn’t been involved with the Great Pigeon Fiasco that had interrupted transfiguration. It was made possible when she got Black and James to all but confess to the Professor that they were the only ones nearby when the Charm was set off, thereby letting Peter off Scot-free.) He closed his mouth and opened it again, trying to find words and feeling a bit like a fish instead. He honestly couldn’t find a proper response. She rolled her eyes. “Don't worry, I won't pry.”

Sirius breathed a small sigh of relief. If Lily figured it out, it would only be a matter of time before Remus knew as well. For a second, but only a second, he considered telling her everything and then crying all over her jumper, but he shook that thought away. He was Sirius Black, he didn't show weakness. Especially toward stupid werewolves with stupidly perfect hair. He turned back to the tv.

“Okay, I'll pay attention this time.” She sighed and backed it up to the beginning.

 

Sirius found himself immensely sympathetic towards Jon Snow, probably because he, too, was a gorgeous outcast thrust into increasingly difficult circumstances.

Maybe it was because his hair was absolutely flawless.

In any case, they watched the entire first season in the course of the next two days, taking occasional breaks to eat or take a piss, but the first time that Sirius paused the show was right after they'd taken Lady out and killed her. He only paused it because he had a strong urge to punch Sean Bean in the face and cry at the same time. Lily took one look at his face and decided it was time for ice cream.

By the end of the season Sirius was firmly House Targaryen, and Lily was stubbornly sticking to House Stark.

“Never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad Dany burned that blood witch at the stake.” Sirius said, attacking the giant tub of chocolate ice cream with a spoon.

“Exactly! And she couldn't have done anything less, really. You don't attack her shekh ma sheraki anni without there being serious consequences.” Sirius decided not to question how she knew the Dothraki terms, or why she used them in conversation. For all he knew, she'd had them memorized since the first time she'd seen the show.

“What did he call her again?” He asked as nonchalantly as possible.

“'Moon of my life' yer jalan atthirari anni in Dothraki.” Lily responded immediately. When he didn't say anything else, she narrowed her eyes again, but he was already worlds away. She watched as he mouthed the words yer jalan atthirari anni again and again. She could hear the gears in his head turning and she felt a revelation on the horizon. She turned away and did some thinking of her own.

 

It wasn't until much later, when Sirius was snoring on her couch that she allowed herself to follow the line of thought that she'd caught on to an hour before. Sirius had shaken out of his daze rather quickly, and had started talking rather animatedly.

Lily hadn’t been aware that Sirius would be so easy to talk to. Not like James, because he was her boyfriend, or Remus, because they were so similar in personality, or even Peter, because he was so unassuming, she’d always figured that he would be the most difficult of the four to talk to. His “player” status had probably got her thinking that, but apparently when the girl was dating his best mate, he dropped whatever act it was and talked to her like a normal human being. As she was no longer fodder for endless innuendo, they talked about other things. He talked to her about Quidditch, teaching her a thing or two that she could never understand when James went on for ages about it. Sirius made everything worlds simpler, calmly explaining whatever she didn’t get. Then they talked Game of Thrones for a while, and Sirius professed his undying love for no less than four characters, including Loras Tyrell, Daenarys Targaryen, Jon Snow, and Syrio Forel. He begrudgingly allowed her to say that Sean Bean was attractive, even though he was older, but he hadn’t seemed to forgive him for “slaughtering” Lady instead of standing up to the Queen. Then, as if to change the subject, he swore that he would protect Arya with his life.

It was about this time that she begun to sense him plotting something. She wanted to weed it out of him and stop him, or weed it out of him and then help him. (She often repressed her urge she had to help the marauders with the actual act of pranking. She’d been raised to not “make trouble”, and “don’t instigate anything”, especially after the “Lily why did you move all of the furniture two inches to the left I can’t walk in the dark anymore” incident. For years she’d spurned James Potter for how awful he was to Severus. But when she and Sev had started to grow apart in third year, she had begun to let herself enjoy their little pranks. A few, she would never tell, she had facilitated by turning away the attention of teachers at critical moments so that they could carry their pranks through to the end. More and more the past few years she’d almost asked to join them, but had resisted. Gryffindor couldn’t afford to have two heads running around pranking the pants off of the school.) Instead, she’d tried to bring up the person that Sirius had been over the moon about earlier. The moment that she broached the subject, he coughed and turned the same color as the Gryffindor jumper he’d stolen from Remus. He’d yawned and said it was past time he went to sleep, lest her darling boyfriend got jealous, even though he wouldn’t even know. So now she was sighing pointedly and washing dishes at two a.m. Some she washed despite the fact that they were already gleaming, because washing dishes by hand soothed her. It was such a menial task that she found that her mind was able to work through many of her problems while she did it.

This was how she discovered that she had a monumental crush on James Potter in her fifth year at hogwarts. It had turned her entire worldview upside down. So, she scrubbed dishes and hoped that the task would work it’s particular brand of magic on her mind.

She thought quickly, muttering quietly under her breath. She tried to remember everyone that she’d seen Sirius around recently, other than his three best friends and herself, and came up short. There was that ravenclaw girl that he’d flirted with in the hallway, and the hufflepuff boy that he’d partnered with in Herbology when Peter had grabbed Remus bodily and James had shyly asked her to partner with him, but he hadn’t mentioned either of them since.

Besides, Sirius flirted with everybody. He flirted with James, who flirted back (always in a sarcastic tone of voice, to make sure Lily got that he was joking). He flirted with Peter because Peter always blushed horribly and squeaked before hiding behind Remus. And Remus...

The plate slipped through Lily’s fingers.

Oh...

Oh.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to end up giving the chapters all titles before the end, but for now here's "Chapter Two"

Remus was confused, understandably, when Sirius greeted him the day after break with a shout of “Good morning, yer jalan atthirari anni! How are you today?” Sirius beamed, holding his arms out to either side, as if to embrace the world. He plopped down next to the other boy on the grass and laid his head over Remus' legs. Remus' brow furrowed and Sirius' heart stopped, terrified that Remus did know Dothraki, that he'd learned it to amuse himself. That was something Remus would do. And the whole of his plan depended on Remus really not knowing Dothraki.

“What are you planning?” Remus asked, and relief washed over Sirius like... well he was bad at similes, but it was something, and it was strong. “Are you going to prank James? Because if you are, don't tell me anything, I can't afford to get in trouble yet.”

“Remus we both know that you could get out of anything in half of a heartbeat.” Sirius said with a fond smile. “Besides, why would I want to prank James?” Remus raised an eyebrow. “I'm hurt, Moony, but why would I bother with pranking James now, when the sun is shining, and the company is oh so delightful?” Sirius winked, eliciting an eye roll from Remus, but Sirius was satisfied that Remus was no longer suspicious, so he settled back into a more comfortable position, and only sighed a little when Remus rested his book on Sirius’ chest.

He continued like that for the rest of the day, acting completely normal: throwing in yer jalan atthirari anni at certain times and winking at Remus or smiling at him. Part of Sirius desperately wanted Remus to catch on, but he was also terrified that, if Remus did, he would reject him in the logical way that he’d only done one other time, with that poor ravenclaw girl. He’d listed off the reasons that they wouldn’t work out in the long run and tacked on an exceptionally nonchalant ‘besides, I’m gay.’ at the end of it. Sirius still refused to acknowledge the way that hearing him turn her down had made his heart sing.

Because he was Sirius Black. His heart didn’t sing. Tap dance, maybe. But only for effect, or after running for his life from... well a rather large number of people, actually.

But it didn’t sing.

That was the whole point of this, anyway, to tell Remus exactly how he felt without actually having to say the words out loud. Once he said them out loud, everyone would know, and he wouldn’t be able to take them back. At least this way, if Remus found out and didn’t feel the same, Sirius could pass it off as a joke, right?

It was only in the dead of night, when he was asleep, that he allowed himself to think about what would happen if Remus were to actually return his feelings. He imagined glorious scenes where he boldly professed his love for Remus, who then replied that he felt the same, and always had, of course. He had just been too intimidated by Sirius’ awesomeness to do anything about it. And then, of course, they ended up getting kicked out of Britain because of how absolutely adorable they were together, and because everyone was jealous. They ended up trekking through the wilds of Paris before settling down and adopting a nice golden retriever.

And then he’d wake up and remember that it was just a dream, and that Remus had never given him the smallest reason to believe that he felt any way at all about Sirius, beyond being one of the boy’s best friends.

Those nights were the worst. They gave Sirius a taste of what being with Remus might be like; even though that would definitely not be how it was were he to date Remus. And it was always that much harder to look his best mate in the eye and forget about the fact that Sirius had begun to wonder if he wasn’t maybe Sirius’ soulmate.

But he did it. Mostly because he was a selfish bastard, and could never be away from Remus for long without feeling the need to shake like a junkie coming off of a high, but still. He managed, and he deserved some credit for that, right?

Right.

~~~

Lily Evans had started a betting pool on relationship advances her first year at Hogwarts, and she'd kept it running ever since. No one ever tried to shut it down, yet it was whispered throughout the hallways that if you wanted to make a quick Galleon or two, you could pay the handling fee and set up a pool on people you knew would get together soon. Through the years, there had been two pools set up by Lily herself, but no one knew which ones they were. The fact was, Lily had set up her first pool about Ravenclaw Nanette Turner and Hufflepuff Goodwin Underhill. They had lasted about a week, but they were only eleven, and Lily had still made a few sickles off of it. She'd also made one about her housemates, Blaise Baker and Angelus Matlock (which she'd made more than a few sickles off of). When she'd become a prefect, she'd nearly let the whole thing go underwater, out of duty to her post, but then someone had started a rumor about her and a hufflepuff boy named Gareth Fitzgerald, and she kept it running out of spite. No one started a rumor about Lily Evans without consequences.

The consequences to that poor boy's lie was when he lost about a hundred galleons to Lily herself when she agreed to let James Potter take her on a date. She'd kept it running since then out of nostalgia and severe sentimentality.

Plus she and James ran it together now, which just made it a hundred times more satisfying, because she loved proving herself right.

Letting him take her to the Three Broomsticks really was the best decision she'd ever made, she thought sappily as James strutted towards her in the hallway. He kissed her cheek when she reached her and she resisted the urge to giggle.

“So I heard a vicious rumor today,” James began, slinging his arm around her shoulder.

“What was it?”

“That you actually had fun with Sirius over the break. And maybe that someone with devilishly good looks wasn't completely horrible in having you two spend time together.” Lily laughed.

“Maybe not completely horrible.” She said before going silent, then: “I want to open up another pool.” James stopped. Everyone knew that Lily only opened pools she knew she could win.

“I'm fairly certain that's not what I was talking about.”

“I'm fairly sure you're right.” He eyed her suspiciously.

“Who on?” She hesitated. He wasn't sure how he'd take it.

“...Remus and Sirius.” For a second he looked shocked, but the gears in his head started turning and things began to fall into place. A smile took over his features, eventually becoming a full blown grin.

“Finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short (they're all short, I know, I'm trying to keep this fic to a minimum length and it's already a full two chapters out of hand), but I kept reading over what I have, and it seemed the best place to stop, so I'll finish editing the next part and update again in the morning.  
> don't be a stranger! Come talk to me on [tumblr ](http://effectively-immortal.tumblr.com)  
> (Also: I do have reasons to believe that Lily would secretly run a betting pool/want to tag along with the marauders. If you want to hear why, follow the link above~)


	3. Chapter 3

The muggleborn students were the first to catch on to Sirius’ game. They’d snicker and make Remus even more confused and frustrated, and for Merlin’s sake when did Moony stop being enough for Sirius? Oh no, he had to go and start calling him something in a completely different language that he couldn’t find anywhere, because how do you find a language when all you have are sounds? He wanted to grab Sirius and shake him by the shoulders all the while screaming at him because couldn’t Sirius see how hard this was on him? Remus had long ago resigned himself to only getting Sirius’ friendship, and he’d never let how he felt about another person get in the way of anything, but it was sometimes hard to sit there and laugh when Sirius would smile like he was the most important person in the world, and call him pet names and MERLIN'S PANTS! Remus slammed the latest book onto the table with a huff, casting an apologetic glance over at Mlle. Pince--who absolutely WOULD NOT let him take the books out of the library, no matter how he begged and wheedled and promised not to let chocolate anywhere near them--and at Peter, who had very kindly agreed to help him with the research.

They were surrounded by books, dusty old things written by hand and newer novellas written by smarmy pricks who thought that they were better than everyone and not a single one of the language books in the Hogwarts library had any mention of anything like the phrase that Sirius had been using recently. Peter looked at him pityingly and turned back to magic-ing drawings in the margins of the library books. Mlle. Pince would be horrified when she found the doodles, but Peter was counting on that. He and James were planning a Valentines day surprise for Lily and Peter was handling the distractions. Remus sighed and turned back to the books, trying very hard not to join in the enchanted doodling out of spite of these blasted books.

It would have been one thing if he could understand what Sirius was calling him, but not knowing was absolutely killing him. The library had never failed him before, and his faith was slowly becoming more and more shaken. What was worse was he liked it. He liked the way that Sirius said that phrase ‘yer jalan atthirari anni’ or whatever it was. He liked the way that Sirius’ voice seemed to melt around the vowels, and the way that his eyes gleamed, like there was some private joke between them that he was just waiting for Remus to understand hidden in the words themselves.

IF ONLY HE COULD UNDERSTAND WHAT SIRIUS WAS SAYING.

 

Things were coming to a head in the Gryffindor common room. Everyone but the marauders had gotten used to the idea that Sirius felt like Remus was the moon to Sirius’ sun. And the marauders only didn’t know partly because none of them thought it that far out of the ordinary, and partly because no one felt secure enough to tell them what Sirius meant by calling Remus yer jalan atthirari anni. Probably because whenever someone who wasn’t Sirius tried to broach the subject, Remus looked like he was going to tear his hair out on the spot.

It didn’t help much that the full moon was the next day. People tended to tiptoe around Remus these days to keep out of the possible line of fire, which he found rather helpful to his cause. (Said cause being both the research and the pursuit of keeping Lycanthrope a secret.) Rather than worry about his frustration at Sirius, however, Remus was allowing a moment of indulgence, as the moon was throwing him so far out of whack that he felt like he’d been beaten half to death by the whomping willow. He currently had his head in Sirius’ lap and was staring morosely at the fire in the common room. Sirius stroked his hair and hummed what might have been one of the ballets from Faust, but could have just as easily been Queen.

“Yer jalan atthirari anni, how do you feel?” Sirius murmured into Remus’ ear.

“Like death has come a-calling.” He sighed.

“Well what is it we say to death?” Lily asked him. Or maybe the room at large, Remus wasn’t always sure with her. He could tell that Sirius was grinning from the way his voice sounded.

“Not today!” He crowed. Remus looked at Lily, who raised an eyebrow at him. He made a mental note to talk to her when he didn’t feel like pitching himself into the lake. He closed his eyes and tried not to fall asleep.

He really didn’t succeed.

 

The transformation the next night was the worst it had ever been. Remus felt that maybe that was since he was getting older the transformations would get worse, and his body might get weaker until one day it killed him. He couldn’t be certain. All he knew was that there was a funny fuzzy feeling in his stomach when he woke up in the hospital wing with Sirius in a chair beside the bed. Sirius was asleep, he saw with a rush of feeling that he would absolutely never get used to. Sirius’ head rested on his palm and Remus almost wished that he had a camera, because he wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen Sirius quite this... beautiful. The sun was shining in through one of the windows, glinting over tan skin and shimmering across his stupidly perfect hair and reflecting slightly through his wide storm-grey eyes and--

Fuck.

“Wotcher, Remus.” He smiled sleepily. Remus made a small effort at smiling back at him, more embarrassed than anything that he’d been caught staring. He was never going to get away with his ridiculous infatuation if he kept on staring like that. Sirius yawned and stretched, limbs splaying all over the place. If Remus hadn’t lived with the boy for the past six years, he would have been almost shocked at Sirius’ ability to occupy so much space in seconds. As it was, he’d gotten used to it. It was one thing he loved about Sirius Black, and he’d learned to accept that.

Because he loved Sirius Black. He groaned, loudly, at the thought and Sirius’ face appeared above him, concern etched in every feature.

“Are you okay?” Sirius asked quickly before shaking his head and cursing. “Fuck, of course you’re not. Do you need Mlle. Pomfrey? Is there something I can do, yer jalan atthirari anni? No, I know, I’ll go get Lily, or someone smart. I don’t know, I’ll be right back!” He turned to go, and Remus caught his arm with a grunt of pain. When Sirius turned back it dawned on Remus that he had no idea what he was going to say.

“Stay.” He said, after a moment. “Please?” Sirius’ eyes went wide as he sunk back into the chair. He blew the hair out of his eyes and silence descended on the room. After a few minutes, Remus choked out:

“And you are smart. You just pretend not to be.”

“Why would I do a thing like that?”

“To uphold your outstandingly tarnished reputation.” Remus said, matter-of-factly. ) Sirius’ laughter echoed throughout the room, and they chatted like that for an hour, until the other Marauders and Lily arrived to offer congratulations that he had once again managed to land himself in the hospital, rather than a jail cell or a gravesite.

 

He finally caught Lily after charms class one day, about a week after the full moon. James and Sirius had just gone to bed, having Quidditch the following morning, and Peter had followed not long after. Lily seemed to be shaking with some sort of excitement, and Remus was trying to find out how to breach the subject of nicknames. He’d figured out that his new pet name had come from the time that Lily and Sirius had spent together over the break (it had only been one weekend, but it had seemed to have a sincere positive effect on their friendship.) and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

If he could only figure out how to ask.

He stared at the fire a bit more, willing the flames to spout an explanation.

“Oh, come ON, Remus! Just ask me already!” Lily cried, looking up at the ceiling. “This is driving me INSANE!” She looked him in the eye. “I think the suspense might actually kill me.” She returned her eyes heavenward. “And just when I was getting the hang of Quidditch, too!”

“You’ve been spending too much time with Sirius and James.” Was the first thing out of his mouth. She smirked.

“And you haven’t?” He couldn’t think of a single response. He sighed.

“What does yer jalan atthirari anni mean, Lils? I know you know, so please don’t try to deny it.” Lily beamed at him.

“I have been waiting for you to ask me since the term started.” She held up a hand to stop Remus from replying. “Give me a minute to revel in the glory.” Remus sighed, but obliged, sitting quietly while Lily beamed around the room, looking every bit as if she had singlehandedly achieved world peace. He sighed pointedly at her and, after a few more moments of revelling,  she dropped her arms and looked at him like he was one of the biggest idiots she'd ever made the mistake of loving. He supposed that that was true, in a way. "Okay, Remus. You know you've been my brother in spirit since third year, so I'm going to pretend that you and Sirius aren't total imbeciles." He blushed, remembering that third year was the year he'd told her he liked Sirius because she was the most sensible person he knew. He wasn't convinced that she hadn’t been trying to set them up together at every turn since that moment, but she kept denying it with a swish of her auburn hair, a firm declaration that this conversation was ridiculous and OVER. "And I'm going to ask you a few questions. One: are you in love with Sirius Black?" Remus looked around nervously before nodding. Lily shook her head. "Not good enough. Are you in love with your best mate Sirius Black?"

"Yes." He choked out, then, seeing her face, "Yes, okay? Yes, I am in love with that prancing pranking ponce that I have for a best mate with his stupid hair and his hands that make everything look like magic and his eyes that could probably drown me if he wanted to and..." He looked at Lily desperately.

"Two: what is the real reason that you don't think he'd like you back?"

"He can do better. Also he seems pretty damn straight." Lily fought the urge to grind her teeth together. She would not go back to braces.

"Sexuality is fluid, for heavens sake, and three: are you morally averse to pranking the pants off of him?"

"LILY!" Remus hissed, his face turning a remarkable scarlet.

"Well would you?"

"No, I wouldn't be opposed to pranking the--the virtually unprankable Sirius Black. Why?" Lily beamed again.

"Because here's the plan..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not totally satisfied with this chapter, but that might have to do with the fact that I'm SO CLOSE TO THE END!!!! There should only be one part left, two at the very most. Comments are always welcome! otherwise, I welcome you on [tumblr! ](http://effectively-immortal.tumblr.com)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this took forever to upload. Sorry about that! I typed most of this on my phone, and towards the end it started duplicating words and phrases, so tell me if I missed anything or if something doesn't make sense!

“Sirius are you even listening to me?” Remus sighed.

“Of course, yer jalan atthiari anni. I’m just surprised at how strongly you feel about this guy.” He probably shouldn’t have been, as it was only a matter of time. At least now he could use it to his advantage and try to get over his silly little crush.

Okay, so it wasn’t a crush, and it wasn’t very little, and hearing Remus prattle on about a guy that wasn’t Sirius was getting increasingly painful, but he’d do it. He’d do it because Remus was more important than any hurt feelings on his end. He wasn’t just the moon to Sirius, he was the earth and sun and stars as well.

It would be apt to call Remus his whole universe.

“To be completely honest, I’m surprised as well. But at the same time, it’s like I’ve always loved him, it felt like accepting how I felt was always going to happen. It was...” Remus waved his hand vaguely.

“Endgame, huh?” Sirius muttered. A dreamy look came into Remus’ eyes, before Remus had more room to spout about his feelings, Sirius decided to take advantage of the silence. “Do I know him?”

 

The plan was simple.

Supposed to be simple.

He needed to find out if Sirius liked him back, of course, so he had to employ an age-old tactic. He wasn’t sure, even now, that he completely understood the tactic itself, or what it was. Lily had just told him to explain to Sirius why he loved Sirius without actually mentioning that it was Sirius that he was in love with. It made Remus ill to think about. After hiding how he felt for so long, he was just supposed to tell Sirius.

He wasn’t sure how this plan was supposed to work, because surely, once he started listing every reason that he loved Sirius it would be obvious that it was Sirius that he loved and there went the whole damn plan.

However, Lily seemed convinced that things would work out differently, that Sirius wouldn’t automatically know that Remus was mad for him. Apparently, that’s how Remus would know that Sirius liked him back.

In theory, anyway. Remus wasn’t convinced, but he had no real reason to doubt Lily, so he screwed his eyes shut and thought about why he loved Sirius.

And then he gave Sirius a list longer than the astronomy tower.

As he went on, Remus began to notice that Sirius was looking a bit ill. He considered stopping, but Sirius had tortured him often enough with the various “perfect” people that he’d fallen in love with. He decided that it was some sort of Poetic Justice on a cosmic level. After a minute or two, and a few pointed hints about Quidditch, Remus began to worry that Sirius wasn’t actually listening. He expressed this sentiment, trying to hide his desperation behind annoyance.

“Of course,” Sirius sounded adamant, and then there was that infernal nickname again! “I’m just surprised that you feel this strongly, is all.” Remus almost wasn’t, he’d gotten used to the way he felt about Sirius a long time ago. He’d actually hoped it’d dim a bit, especially after Sirius had almost gotten everyone killed in fifth year, but it hadn’t. If anything, that summer his crush had gotten worse, because then he knew how awful it was to be away from him. He knew--or thought he knew--that Sirius didn’t hold his life in very high esteem.

And that hurt the most.

He’d come back, after that truly awful summer, wanting things to be normal, but being utterly unsure if they ever could be, or if he should even entertain the possibility of forgiving Sirius. He’d paused by their carriage and glanced in on the way to the prefects carriage, and he’d seen James talking earnestly, and Peter nodding enthusiastically, but his eyes had locked on Sirius. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, or at all that summer. His face was hollow, and he looked like a dementor had been let loose in his bedroom, and all of Remus’ remaining anger disappeared entirely. He’d recognized the self-loathing in Sirius’s face and that was just inherently wrong. Sirius was never supposed to look like that. A wave of instinct to protect Sirius at all costs had crashed over him, and that’s when he realized that it wasn’t just a crush anymore. He was madly in love with his best mate, and there was just nothing he could do to change that. Everything had stopped, it seemed, when Remus had pushed the carriage door open. He’d wavered for a moment, suddenly unsure that they still wanted him, but Sirius’ face had lit up, just enough. He’d stepped inside and took the seat next to Sirius.

“I hope you shitheads didn’t get into too much trouble without me.” He’d said, and the tension had shattered like glass. “But don’t get me wrong, I’m still mad as fuck.”

Remus looked at Sirius, ignoring the memory.

“Me too.” He said at length, shaking off the memory, because he wasn’t. He wasn’t surprised in the least. And then, after endgame, (such an apt term) Sirius made Remus’ heart stop.

“Do I know him?” Remus struggled not to beam, to laugh with unadulterated happiness, because Sirius’ tone may have been light, but his eyes gave everything away.

“Yeah.” Sirius resumed nodding vacantly at the curtains.

“You gonna tell me who he is?”

“Nah. Not yet.” Sirius rocked himself up into a seated position.

“Well, yer jalan atthiari anni,” his voice wavered a little, and Remus resisted the urge to say that it was him, it had always been him, to tell Sirius to stop being so blind, but then he was standing. “I hate to leave you in such a lovelorn state, but I have to go bail Prongs and Wormy out of detention, and probably get in more trouble than the two of them combined. He bowed with a flourish. “Destiny calls me, dearest, and I must be going now.” He gave another flourish before bolting from the room. Remus waited another minute or two before going down to the common room as well. Lily grinned when he sat down beside her. He matched her grin with a half hearted glower before resting his head on the back of the chair.

"That was the most nerve-wracking thing that I've ever had to do."

"You don't get out much, do you?" She ducked away from the pillow he tossed her way. "At least this way you know that he likes you, too, and you won't end up making a complete fool of yourself." She saw some of the tension leave his shoulders.

"He really does like me back, doesn't he?" Remus laughed breathlessly.

 

Sirius couldn't break Prongs and Wormy out right away. He needed a captive audience, first, or he'd never get a chance to vent.

"And he wouldn't stop going on about this bloke, James!" Peter was certain that he deserved a medal of some kind for not pointing out the hypocrisy of Sirius’s statement and his current actions. Instead he exchanged a look with James and tried to bite back a laugh. But because James was an infinitely better person than Peter was, he decided to humor Sirius.

"Did he tell you anything about this guy?"

"Try everything. The only thing i don't know is his ruddy shoe size!" Sirius kicked at one of the Shrivelfig pots James and Peter were trying to weed as their punishment and James rolled his eyes. "Apparently this arse is beyond perfect, and I'd bet his arse isn't half bad, either... but that's not the point. He plays Quidditch like really well, according to the moon of my life," Sirius sighed, grabbing a pair of pruning shears to give his frustration frustration an outlet while he talked. "And he looks absolutely fit in the uniform."

"Who does he play for?"

"Gryffindor," Sirius snapped, "and he is rubbish at potions, which Remus finds adorable. He's shorter than Moony by a fair few inches.” He snipped away at the plant angrily. “His hair is an - and i quote- "artful wreck" all of the time..." He trailed off, his silver eyes growing in size. "Oh my god..." He choked out. James grinned over at Peter, who looked relieved that this was going to be over soon, so that Peter could stop worrying about these insufferable, lovesick idiots. Sirius turned to James slowly, and the smiles melted off of both James and Peter’s faces, leaving behind matching looks looks of terror.

"James Potter, how dare you." James tried to respond, but succeeded only in emitting a rather high pitched squeal. Peter reacted instinctively, reaching for his wand just seconds before Sirius lunged at them both.

"PROTEGO!" Peter screeched. Sirius ricocheted off of the invisible wall and was sent flying backwards. He was back on his feet within seconds, his own wand out as well.

"What the hell are you doing, Padfoot?!" James shouted, and Peter was rather inclined to agree.

"You got Moony to fall In love with you!" Peter Peter and James dropped their wands in surprise, and Sirius took the opportunity to lunge at James. He got in one good punch and an accidental kick to the ribs that knocked the breath out of James before Peter managed to pry him off of the other boy. Peter was terribly lucky that he was a lot stronger than he looked, or he wouldn't have been able able to hold Sirius back. But being friends with with a werewolf and running around as a rat quite a bit of the time had its perks. Improved muscle mass and mobility being one of them. Sirius was still yelling at James, who had a protective hand over his bleeding nose.

"You know how I feel about him! How could you?"

"Merlin, Sirius, I didn't!" James roared. "I'm with Lily, I love Lily! I have done since second year, if you can get your head out of your arse for maybe twelve seconds to remember that! Why would I have any cause cause to make Moony fall in love with me?!" James staggered to his feet, wiping blood onto his robes, and trying to stem the flow of it from his nose. Sirius sagged against against the tables, his fingers gripping the edge of it. James took a few cautious steps forward until he he was leaning next to him. Peter chose to stay back, in case this was some clever ploy of Padfoot's. "You know, Sirius, there are two players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team who fit the description that you've given me." Sirius looked over at James.

"Nah." Sirius sighed, James nodded. "Why would he like me?"

"I haven't the slightest clue, but I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Then why hasn't he said anything?"

"You know, it might have something to do with with the fact that he's even more insecure than you are, Padfoot. Maybe he didn't think you liked him back. Maybe that's why he he told you everything the way he did." Sirius shrugged, going back to the Shrivelfig bush on on the other side of the greenhouse and Peter took took the opportunity to approach James again.

"You sound awfully sure." James smirked down at his much shorter friend.

"Maybe Lily and I don't keep anything from each other, anymore." He said conspiratorially. He looked over at Sirius again, who- despite everything that he told himself- had begun to hope, just a little bit at James' words.

 

If it had been James and Lily locked in this almost-battle for months, there would have have been an explosive conclusion complete with shouting and magical displays of affection.

If Sirius had been more certain of Remus' feelings, there certainly would have been a grand gesture of some kind.

If it it had been Peter, nothing would have ever happened, because Peter was Peter, while the other Marauders loved him, they really didn't care for him that way.

But this this was Remus. He never did things by halves or let his feelings go incorrectly interpreted for long. There were no grand gestures, and no explosive declarations of feelings. He was nervous, for fairly obvious reasons, but he didn't show it. He smiled when Sirius sat down beside him that morning in the great hall. There was a strong sense of anticipation running around the Marauders that day, making everyone perk up and strain towards them, awaiting the interaction that they were certain was finally there. They were probably rather disappointed, therefore when all that was said was:

"Pass the toast, yer jalan atthirari anni?" In an imperceptibly tremulous voice. Remus smiled at the words, passing the toast with a coy smile.

"As you wish, shekh ma sheraki anni. "

Sirius almost choked on his toast, swinging to look at Remus as fast as he could. Remus was still smiling at him, one eyebrow raised, asking him if he'd gotten it right, a part of him still unconvinced that this could be what Sirius meant.

He was completely unaware that Sirius wanted to stand on the table and profess his love for Remus through songs and limericks.

Okay maybe not limericks, but the sentiment was the same.

Instead, Sirius cleared his throat, choosing his next words carefully, well aware that they could make or break the potential relationship.

"I was wondering if you-that is to say, would you maybe like go to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Sirius had never been less smooth when asking for a date, but he'd also never wanted one more. His fingers were white knuckled around his silverware. Remus pried the twisted fork out of his hand and curled their fingers together.

"I wasn't aware that there was a visit next weekend." Sirius swallowed hard, suddenly more nervous than ever.

"Well, technically speaking, there isn't one." Remus grinned at him. "But I thought that we could probably find our own way." Remus squeezed his hand.

"I'd like that." He brushed a kiss to Sirius’s knuckles, sending butterflies rioting in Sirius’s stomach. "I'd like that a lot." And Sirius finally found the courage to grin back. There would be time for grand gestures later. For now, they would eat breakfast with their fingers laced together and maybe Sirius would get up the courage to kiss Remus on the cheek before potions, and they'd sneak down to Hogsmeade next weekend and they would be happy.

That's what mattered, for now.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's done! I hope I didn't disappoint you all! For more writing, or if you just want to talk, as ever, you can find me on [ Tumblr! ](effectively-immortal.tumblr.com)


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